A 61-year-old woman with hypercholesterolemia, hypertension and diabetes mellitus was referred to hospital for the evaluation of chest pain at rest. Eccentric 50% stenosis in the proximal right coronary artery was detected by 64-slice multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT). The plaque morphology was considered as soft by Color Code Plaque ...

BACKGROUND: Patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and atherosclerosis. Arterial stiffness is a measure of endothelial dysfunction and an independent predictor of cardiovascular events. OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether chronic plaque psoriasis is associated with an increased arterial stiffness. METHODS: A ...

OBJECTIVE: Because of beam-hardening and blooming artifacts, it is difficult to determine the degree of stenosis caused by calcified coronary artery plaques at coronary CT angiography (CTA). Our goal was to determine how accurate coronary CTA is in evaluating these lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-one patients who had one or ...

Complications of carotid artery stenting (CAS), including stroke, remain relatively high when compared with carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Current selection criteria for patients undergoing CAS are based predominately on surgical risk related to other comorbidities. Little attention is given to the morphology of the atherosclerotic plaque, although studies have shown that ...

An 86-year-old man with a history of brain infarction was admitted because of recurrent stroke with symptoms of left hemiparesis. Ultrasonography revealed a mobile thrombus in the brachiocephalic artery. Although anticoagulant therapy was commenced, neurologic symptoms deteriorated suddenly and he died on the third day. Autopsy indicated that the thrombus ...

Intracranial artery stenosis is assumed to represent atherosclerotic plaque. Catheter cerebral arteriography shows that intracranial stenosis may progress, regress, or remain unchanged. It is counterintuitive that atherosclerotic plaque should spontaneously regress, raising questions about the composition of intracranial stenoses. Little is known about this disease entity in vivo. We provide ...

Development of a thrombus at the site of an atherosclerotic plaque initiates abrupt arterial occlusion and is the proximate event responsible for the vast majority of acute ischemic syndromes. In nearly 75% of cases thrombus overlies a disrupted or ruptured plaque whereas the remainder of the thrombi overly an intact ...

BACKGROUND: The morphological characteristics of atherosclerotic plaques are considered to determine their cerebral 'embolic potential'. However, these are seldom considered during therapeutic decision-making. METHODS: Assessment and quantification of embolic potential by employing power-M-mode (PMD) transcranial Doppler (TCD) to strengthen risk scoring has been discussed. RESULTS: PMD-TCD is a reliable technique ...

Arterial calcification has prognostic significance for cardiovascular outcomes, but its pathogenesis remains unclear. Calcification increases with age, but its prevalence in men suggests hormonal influence. In this study we analyzed the effect of exogenous androgens on calcification of advanced atherosclerotic lesions in the arterial tree of gonadally intact 34-wk-old male ...

To enable intravascular detection of inflammation in atherosclerosis, we developed a near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) catheter-based strategy to sense cysteine protease activity during vascular catheterization. The NIRF catheter design was based on a clinical coronary artery guidewire. In phantom studies of NIRF plaques, blood produced only a mild (<30%) attenuation of ...

High performance athletes, predominantly professional cyclists, can develop symptomatic arterial flow restriction in one or both legs during exercise. The ischemic symptoms are caused by endofibrosis and/or kinking of the external iliac artery. Because these athletes are young and have no classic risk factors for atherosclerosis, endofibrosis and atherosclerosis are ...

The lesion responsible for the overwhelming majority of acute coronary events is plaque disruption or erosion with superimposed thrombosis. The term "vulnerable plaque" has been used to describe those atherosclerotic plaques that are particularly susceptible to disruption. Vulnerable plaques are generally characterized as those having a thin inflamed fibrous cap ...

Calcification of the vascular tree is common in physiologic and pathologic conditions, i.e., aging, diabetes, dyslipidemia, genetic diseases, and diseases with disturbances of calcium metabolism. In chronic kidney disease, vascular calcification is even more common, develops early, and contributes to the markedly increased cardiovascular risk in this particular population. Pathomorphologically, ...

The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence, location, and clinical features of myocardial bridging (MB) detected by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and to compare IVUS-detectable versus angiographically detectable MBs. IVUS images were analyzed in 331 consecutive patients with de novo coronary lesions located in the left anterior descending ...

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) allows in vivo invasive intra-luminal real-time examination of the arterial wall structure. In this study, we aimed to validate for the first time the in vivo IVUS performing as a diagnostic tool by comparison to the well-established histomorphometry approach, in the largely used rat model of carotid ...

The rupture of atherosclerotic plaques is known to be associated with the stresses that act on or within the arterial wall. The extreme wall tensile stress is usually recognized as a primary trigger for the rupture of the plaque. The present study used one-way fluid-structure interaction simulation to investigate the ...

Subtraction angiography is an invasive diagnostic method, which for a long time was a gold standard in carotid artery and intra-cranial vessel imaging. The aim of this research is to evaluate angiographic imaging in predicting atherosclerotic plaque type VI by AHA morphology and to assess its significance in establishing patients' ...

Calcification of large arteries has been sporadically reported in horses. The pathogenesis is still unknown, but recent studies in humans suggest that this is a regulated biomineralizing process. This study surveyed the prevalence, distribution, and severity of vascular calcification in Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses. Histopathologic, ultrastructural imaging, and energy dispersive ...

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to assess agreement between an intravascular near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system and histology in coronary autopsy specimens. BACKGROUND: Lipid core plaques cannot be detected by conventional tests, yet are suspected to be the cause of most acute coronary syndromes. Near-infrared spectroscopy is widely used to determine the ...

BACKGROUND: Integrated backscatter (IB) intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and IVUS Virtual Histology (VH) have been developed for tissue characterization, but have never been compared directly. The purpose of this study was to compare the overall agreement between IB-IVUS and IVUS-VH in the tissue characterization of plaques from the same coronary arterial ...

Atherosclerotic lesions develop in the arterial intima. Among the leukocytes that accumulate in advanced atherosclerotic plaques, CD8 T cells play a quantitatively important role. They may be involved in disease progression and plaque destabilization, leading to plaque rupture or erosion. These events finally precipitate cardiovascular events. Therefore, we wished to ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The association of carotid atherosclerosis with body composition and fat distribution is poorly understood. We aimed to test the cross-sectional association of carotid plaques and common carotid artery intima-media thickness with calf circumference (CC), representing peripheral fat and lean mass, and with waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, ...

Diagnosis of deep subcortical infarcts based on atherosclerosis of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) is important because this type of infarct is usually more aggressive than typical lacunar infarcts. However, current imaging techniques are of limited utility in the diagnosis of MCA plaques. Here, we report the use of 3-Tesla ...

BACKGROUND: Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis has been suggested as an independent risk factor for ischemic heart disease. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether two markers of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, the level of salivary cortisol and the diurnal salivary cortisol pattern, are associated with atherosclerosis of ...

The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution and frequency of thin-capped fibroatheromas (TCFAs) within the entire length of culprit coronary arteries in patients with acute coronary syndrome. Our population was drawn from 43 consecutive patients with acute coronary syndrome (with or without ST-segment elevation) who underwent optical ...

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of occult coronary artery disease (CAD) with coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) to characterize plaque composition and to evaluate the potential of this new technology to impact risk stratification in asymptomatic middle-aged subjects. BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of ...

Arterial calcification leading to increased arterial stiffness, a powerful risk factor for cardiovascular disease, may underlie the association of osteoporosis with cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women. Osteoprotegerin (OPG), an indirect inhibitor of osteoclastogenesis, may be involved in arterial calcification. We examined relationships between calcification of subclinical atherosclerotic plaque and arterial ...

BACKGROUND: Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a putative risk factor for myocardial infarction and stroke and is related to thrombosis and impaired fibrinolysis. We studied relationships of Lp(a) with carotid stenosis, occlusion, and total plaque area, distinct phenotypes of atherosclerosis that may be differentially affected by cardiovascular risk factors. METHODS AND RESULTS: ...

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidences show that disruption of carotid plaque followed by arterio-arterial thromboembolism is an important mechanism in the generation of ischemic stroke. Inflammatory mechanisms play a key role in transforming structurally vulnerable plaques into functionally unstable ones. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the roles of ...

PURPOSE: To evaluate neovascularization within carotid atherosclerotic plaques with contrast-enhanced sonography. METHODS: We used contrast-enhanced sonography to examine 63 patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques. The features of neovascularization within the plaques were analyzed and correlated with plaque size and echogenicity. RESULTS: There were 81 atherosclerotic plaques, 62 of which (43 ...

PURPOSE: Multislice computed tomography (MSCT) is a novel non-invasive test for detection and analysis of coronary artery plaques. A systematic review was conducted of the literature to compare MSCT with IVUS as the reference standard for assessing coronary artery plaques. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a literature search in the ...

Positive coronary arterial remodelling has been shown to be associated with unstable coronary syndromes and ex vivo histological characteristics of plaque vulnerability such as a large lipid core and high macrophage content. The aim of this study is to evaluate the in vivo association between coronary artery remodelling and underlying ...

It has been proposed that iron depletion protects against cardiovascular disease. There is increasing evidence that one mechanism for this protection may involve a reduction in iron levels within atherosclerotic plaque. Large increases in iron concentration are seen in human atherosclerotic lesions in comparison to levels in healthy arterial tissue. ...

Atherosclerotic disease of the carotid arteries has been identified as a major cause of stroke and thromboembolism from ruptured atheroma plaques within the walls of these vessels, has been proposed as the putative pathophysiological event underlying cerebral ischaemia. Carotid endarterectomy has been shown to be superior to pharmacotherapy in reducing ...

Initiation and progression of coronary atherosclerosis has been associated with inflammation and cytokines balance. The objective of this study is to understand the role of cytokines in the pathophysiology and management of coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease has been revisited with revision of the pertinent published articles in the ...

To study the usefulness of computer simulations in planning effective treatment of stenosed carotid arteries. Computational study of poststenotic areas of carotid arteries. This study was carried out at the Department of Chemical Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi from 15th April 2006 till date. Geometric model of ...

OBJECTIVE: Reported associations of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) with noninvasive measures of atherosclerosis are inconsistent. In the Asklepios Study cohort of asymptomatic subjects aged 35 to 55 years, we evaluated the relationship of circulating oxLDL with subclinical atherosclerosis in the carotid and femoral arteries. METHODS AND RESULTS: Participants (n=2524, 51.5% ...